It's all about the platform.

Specifically here we’ll look at
the options for downloading/uploading customization as a file, which is
important for the following tasks:

Moving different customizations done by many people into one environment

Migrating customizations from a test instance to a production instance

Diagnosing issues in customizations

The different utilities are appropriate in different situations,
however all should be used as part of a complete Customization Lifecycle
Management solution, and future posts will cover more aspects of this.

What to Export/Import

Customization data is stored in the Metadata Services (MDS)
repository, which for Fusion Applications is a dedicated database schema
that holds the XML definitions that are applied over the standard base
documents are runtime.

The out-of-the-box setup for MDS is as follows:

Each product family has a set of MDS repositories
predefined by the RCU utility that runs during Fusion Applications
provisioning. Each repository stores the MDS data for a particular
purpose, with one for the product application in that family (mds-ApplicationMDSDB) and others for ESS and SOA Servers.

Each repository has a set of partitions, acting as a
logical separation of the MDS database. The partitions represent a
different stripe to the data, with examples include ones for security
administration via APM, one of the Diagnostics Dashboard, and a FNDGlobal partition for the use by the application products.

Each application deployment (product) is associated with a single
partition, and the MDS data can be imported or exported either against
the product or one partition. A universal export/import is not possible.

Figure 1 – MDS repositories, partitions, and applications.

Now we understand the basic structure of what data we’re managing, let’s look at some of the utilities and what they do.

Enterprise Manager

In this context, Enterprise Manager is used to export/import the
Metadata Archive (MAR) files that are either from the runtime MDS or are
created from customizing standard Fusion Applications artifacts in
JDeveloper. Oracle Enterprise Manager Fusion Applications Control (and
Fusion Middleware Control) offers a single MDS utility page that is
accessible in the context of one specific deployed application (e.g.
ProcurementApp), and can be found using the following navigation:

As shown below, this contains various options for importing, exporting and purging the related MDS data.

Figure 2 – MDS management for one deployed app.

NOTE: If you check Exclude Base Documents, this operation exports only the customizations, resulting in a much smaller export file.

Whilst this page is specific to ADF-based customizations stored in
MDS, Fusion Middleware Control also has a similar option to
export/import SOA Composite Applications as well.

WebLogic Scripting Language (WLST)

Although actually equivalent, it is also possible to export and
import (and purge) the MDS data through the command line using WLST
commands. This alternative may be useful for script-based administration
or where a developers access to Enterprise Manager is not available.
Here are the basic steps required:

WLST commands are available for all other MDS administrative tasks also, and see the references section below for more details.

Page Composer

Using the Manage Customizations item from the global Fusion Applications Administration menu it is possible to quickly see which customizations are active on any particular UI.

Figure 3 – Manage Customizations from Fusion Applications.

This simple pop-up window shows all customizations for the currently
active document (jspx page). It allows filtering by the layer context,
including for a specific user. At the bottom is the option to download
the displayed customizations to a file.

Figure 4 – Filter by user.

Other pages can be reviewed by either navigating to them directly or by entering the page artifact location and name at the top.

Sandbox Manager

Customizations done using Page Composer should be done in the context
of a sandbox, a logical container (MDS label) that holds one set of
customizations so they can be managed and deployed together. The Manage Sandboxes
feature allows a simple download and then import of these complete sets
of customizations. This is probably the easiest method to manage the
current User Interface customizations, although only provides those
within the selected sandbox environment (sandbox use is recommended).

Figure 5 - Sandbox Manager customizations.

For more details see Using the Sandbox Manager in the Extensibility Guide.

Application Composer

Not all customizations are UI focused, and Fusion Applications
provides a separate tool, the Application Composer, for adjusting and
extending its business objects. This self-contained tool is available
from the navigator > tools menu, and includes various features, one
of which is the Metadata Manager, allowing the export and import of any changes or additions to standard or custom objects.

Figure 6 – Application Composer’s Metadata Manager.

As the name suggestions, this exports only the customizations made
through the Application Composer, therefore would be used in conjunction
with other features.

Hi, We need some help in importing the sandbox. We are able to export the sandbox and could see the changes made. But while tyring to import this sandbox artifacts in other environmnet we can't see Import option in sand box manager dialog. Does the user role requies any special permissions. Please let us know the way to get the improt button. Can we import the Sandbox artifacts to other environment through EM console? Please let us know. Thanks